Lately, I’ve been in touch with friends asking me to quickly brief them about SEO and online marketing basics. I’m always happy doing so -One reason why I regularly publish.

The first reminder I give them about SEO is “This is not magic”. If having a crowd of potential buyers looking at your product or service is already an achievement, but don’t forget the next step: the sale!

Whatever you are selling, whatever strategy you chose to run, your ultimate goal is to convert your visitors into (returning) customers.

What do your customers want? What problem are you solving? How are you presenting it? How can they relate? Is your offer documented enough? Is your copy well written? Are you pictures nice to look at… most importantly: would you buy something from your own website?

If the answer of any of this questions is either “no” or “I don’t know”, you might want to focus on getting a “yes” before even thinking of SEO.

Why shall I consider sales potential before SEO?

A beautiful low ranked website with informative, clean, renewed content, a website that talks to your visitors and helps them make the transition all the way from Attention to Action will have a much stronger potential than a very visible yet not quite enticing page.

How can I make my content more selling?

I’ve prepared a little list that should cover the basics, and insure that your page is ready to sell once you start your SEO and Internet marketing campaign.

Your design is simple, built around your visitor’s needs

This, is actually good news. A website that’s simple to navigate, with informative content, will beat a cluttered page any day, even if that page has a lot of eye candy.

Your offer is clearly showcased, clearly documented

Vagueness never sells. Show your offer in situation, provide case studies, examples, testimonials, FAQs, and let your potentials buyers become familiar with what you sell even before they use it.

You show how you can solve your visitors’ problems

In the same optic as the previous point, do not forget to show applications of whatever you are selling. Prefer “We can do this for you” to “What can we do for you”.